The Michel Hazanavicius-directed film The Artist - a French silent movie that is taking Hollywood by storm - leads the nominations for the Golden Globe Awards after picking up nods in six categories. Announced on Thursday morning (December 15, 2011) by Sofia Vergara and Gerard Butler in Beverly Hills, there were also nods for 1960's tale The Help and George Clooney's family drama 'The Descendants'.Also competing for Best Drama is Martin Scorsese's 3D ode to Paris 'Hugo', Clooney's political thriller The Ides of March, Brad Pitt's baseball tale Moneyball and Steven Spielberg's World War I epic War Horse. Though every film in the category would be considered a worthy winner following a wonderful year for cinema, The Artist is almost certainly the one to beat and its stars Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo also picked up acting nominations. The black-and-white movie, distributed by the Weinstein Company, also finds itself in the category of Best Musical or Comedy category with cancer story 50/50, comedy Bridesmaids, My Week with Marilyn and Midnight in Paris, the latter of which marked a return to form for auteur Woody Allen. Though it was a good day for Clooney (who earned three nominations including Best Actor), it was an even better day for his Ides of March co-star Ryan Gosling who was shut out of yesterday's Screen Actors Guild nominations though finds himself nominated for Best Actor with Clooney, Pitt, Leonardo Dicaprio and Michael Fassbender.As for Best Actress, it appears to be a two-horse race between Meryl Streep for 'The Iron Lady' and Viola Davis for 'The Help'. Historically regarded as a barometer for the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes has failed to match its top award winners to those of the Oscars since Slumdog Millionaire won big at both ceremonies in 2009. Last year, David Fincher's Facebook movie The Social Network won Best Film, though it was Colin Firth and The King's Speech who reigned supreme at the Oscars. Following the Golden Globe nominations, bookmakers have now re-thought their odds for the Academy Awards and have The Artist as the huge 5/4 favorite to win Best Picture. Alexander Payne's The Descendants has now dropped back to 3/1, with Spielberg's War Horse available at a similar price. Next year's Golden Globes air live from Los Angeles on January 15, with controversial previous host Ricky Gervais once again helming the ceremony.